Chapter 83
“Ah… Uwah…?”
The saintess was making a weird face and weird noises while her pupils quaked, but I decided not to pay it much mind.
It was probably some kind of a battle aftereffect.
More importantly, right now is the time to focus on our prospective Retainer, Ha-eun-ssi.
“I looked it up a bit, and is it true that vampires don’t age and don’t gain any weight even if they eat a ton?!”
Ha-eun had been trembling and going 'ho-eh-eh' even just a moment ago, and inside the Gate where I first saved her, but now she brightened up immensely.
Seeing things like this, I didn’t know whether to call her truly positive or what.
“It is the truth.”
“Ah!”
At my confirmation, Ha-eun’s face lit up.
Even though I stuffed myself with sweets, congealed blood, and raw meat every day, I was still maintaining the exact same appearance I had when I first awakened.
As for not aging… I didn’t know for sure, but it seemed roughly like that.
When I told Apostle about it last time, she said something about [Exalted dignity] being “eternal youth” or whatever, so it was probably true.
“Uh… huh…? Wait a minute.”
However, as my thoughts reached that point, I got faint goosebumps.
Th-that means, I have to live in this elementary-middle schooler body for the rest of my life?!
“Awesome! I want to do it right now! I’m completely ready!”
Ha-eun clenched both her fists and made a fuss.
'Ugh…'
Let’s think about my body issue later.
Right now, the Retainer scouting comes first.
“Good. I shall make you into a Vampire.”
“…Ugh?!”
Suddenly, the saintess flinched, making another weird noise.
At this point, I was getting a little worried.
Don’t tell me she got corrupted by the Abyss too?
Anyway, to make Ha-eun-ssi a Retainer, I had to call Apostle here.
Because I had decided to make Ha-eun-ssi a subcontractor of a subcontractor, meaning Apostle’s Retainer, rather than my direct Retainer.
“Hmm… But here is a bit.”
It was really dirty because of the deep-sea monsters' corpses and slime.
Also, I didn’t really feel like performing a sacred Retainer ritual outside like this.
“It would be nice if I could take her to our territory.”
However, [Gate of Darkness] could basically only be used by my retainers and me.
Just as I was wondering if I could take an ordinary person along.
Ding!
[TIP: Targets specially permitted by the True Ancestor can also use it!]
“Ooh, I see.”
I nodded at the kind system’s guidance.
I pointed at the still-open violet dimensional gate and said to Ha-eun.
“Enter through here. Let us go to my territory and perform the ritual.”
“Wow! This looks just like a Gate!”
Ha-eun peeked around the front of the portal as if it were fascinating, without any suspicion or fear.
It was right when we were about to leave together.
“W-wait a moment…!”
The saintess, who had been staying still, urgently reached out her arm.
“?”
“Th-that is… I mean…”
I looked back, wondering if she had something to say, but she couldn’t bring herself to continue and just hesitated.
She was squinting her eyes and sweating profusely.
“Ah. Is she seriously still trying to apologize?”
Wow, she definitely misunderstood, but the saintess-nim really is a good person.
'It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ve received enough apologies.'
If she had actually caused me great harm because of her misunderstanding, I wouldn’t have let it slide like this either.
But right now, it has somehow been resolved well before that happened.
I gave a single nod to convey that she shouldn’t feel sorry anymore, and silently entered the purple portal with Ha-eun.
* * *
“V-Vampire. That makes no sense. How could someone who uses such divine power…”
When she first heard Ha-eun’s words, Cecili-ah thought she had simply misheard.
However,
“Good. I shall make you into a Vampire.”
“…Ugh?!”
The moment the True Ancestor gave the final confirmation, her mind plunged into chaos once again.
'Then she really is a Vampire… and she’s actually trying to make a person into a Retainer…!'
The bloody calamity is expanding its force in the darkness.
It was definitely the contents of the oracle given by the Light.
A warning that an evil Vampire was growing its force.
But hadn’t she just saved herself and the Knights' lives a moment ago?
Unable to immediately question or argue with her Benefactor, Cecili-ah could only open and close her mouth like a goldfish.
In the end, while she was hesitating, the True Ancestor leisurely disappeared beyond the violet dimensional gate with Ha-eun.
Left behind as the door closed, Cecili-ah sat blankly with a confused face.
At that moment, a single thought suddenly crossed her mind.
'It’s true that the True Ancestor is a Vampire, but… perhaps she isn’t the bloody calamity mentioned in the oracle?'
It was a claim that had been raised in the past in the climber community.
A comment suggesting that the True Ancestor might be a “good Vampire” like a Dark hero.
At the time, it was an opinion she had lightly dismissed as nonsensical rubbish.
A vampire being good was something she couldn’t even imagine.
However
Given the things she had shown today… that holy divine power could not possibly belong to an evil being.
She wasn’t certain, but there was a possibility that the post was the truth.
“I-I should observe a little more.”
Of course, having her life and her comrades saved by her was an incredibly great favor.
But even so, she couldn’t just back down without firmly grasping what kind of existence the True Ancestor was.
If she truly were a villain who would threaten the world, she had to somehow stop her as the saintess.
As Cecili-ah continued her serious agony, a random thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
“By the way, the True Ancestor… when I saw her in person, she was even shorter than when I saw her in the photo.”
The sight of her walking lightly while wearing a frilly dress and holding a parasol was striking.
That image lingered in her mind once again.
It would have been nice to see her bare face, not hidden behind the Fox Mask in person too.
Surely, she must be very cute…
“Wh-what weird thoughts am I having right now!”
Cecili-ah was startled out of her wits.
She hastily shook her head vigorously to shake off the distracting thoughts.
She has many things to do right now.
“Brother Lucias, brother Tian.”
Fortunately, thanks to the True Ancestor’s purification, the Knights' breathing had completely regained stability.
Cecili-ah drew up her slowly recovering divine power and began to nurse them with care.
And with one hand, she took out a communication device from her bosom.
It was time to contact Korea’s Kim Tae-Seong Association President to handle this situation and share information.
* * *
Like that, Song Ha-eun, Katarina, and I safely returned to the territory.
“This is the True Ancestor-nim’s territory…?”
Having crossed the portal, Ha-eun looked around with a bewildered expression.
She seemed surprised that it was a normal high-end apartment interior.
I chuckled and asked.
“Did you think I would reside in some old castle or something?”
“Ah…! Hehe, usually when you think of Vampires, that’s the vibe.”
Soon after, upon hearing the news that an outsider had entered, the masked Riri, Apostle, and Si-yeon gathered in the living room.
“You’re all the True Ancestor-nim’s retainers, right? Hello, I’m Song Ha-eun!”
Before, she had trembled just from seeing Katarina alone.
Now, even though she was surrounded by Vampires, she was cheerfully greeting them without any sign of fear.
There was also the fact that she impulsively agreed to become a Retainer just because she wouldn’t age and wouldn’t gain weight no matter how much she ate.
As expected, no matter how I looked at it.
Ha-eun-ssi, is she the type to have a flower field in her head…?
Well, there was nothing bad about it.
It’s good to have a bright-personality newbie come in and liven up the mood.
“Apostle. Come here.”
“Yes…!”
I called Apostle forward and decided to proceed with the Embrace ritual in earnest.
However, when it was actually time to perform the ritual, Ha-eun shrank her shoulders as if slightly nervous.
“Um, it doesn’t hurt a lot, right?! I’m a bit scared of hospital injections too…!”
“I-I’ll try to make it hurt as little as possible…!”
Apostle also answered in a slightly nervous voice and approached Ha-eun.
Soon, Apostle carefully bit Ha-eun’s white nape and began her vampirism.
As her blood was drained, Ha-eun’s eyes began to lose focus slightly.
“Ueeeh… I’m getting dizzier and dizzier…”
Eventually, Ha-eun giggled like a half-drunk person and pointed her finger toward me.
“Hehe… It’s Troo Ancestor-nim… Troo Ancestor-nim is so tiny and super cuuute…”
“What kind of irreverent nonsense is that!”
Katarina flared up, but I raised my hand to stop her.
“Leave her be. She is in the middle of the ritual.”
She was probably in a state similar to a patient spouting nonsense while not fully awake from sleep anesthesia.
There was no need to get angry.
“Pah.”
Not long after, Apostle, having drunk all the blood, pulled her lips away.
She immediately bit the tip of her tongue to draw a drop of blood, then let it flow between Ha-eun’s lips.
“- - !!”
For a moment, Ha-eun’s body trembled violently, but because Apostle was firmly supporting her, she didn’t collapse.
“Ah…”
Ha-eun, who had a blank expression for a moment, blinked her eyes and stood up straight as if she had suddenly come to her senses.
The Retainer transformation was finally complete.
“D-did it go well?”
“I congratulate you on your new birth.”
I took off my mask and illusioned her.
The rest of the retainers did the same.
Since we were now part of the same family anyway, it didn’t matter if we showed our bare faces.
“Wow~! You’re all so pretty.”
Ha-eun marveled, then soon took out her smartphone from her pocket and turned on Selfie Mode.
It seemed she wanted to check her changed appearance.
“Ah, my fangs got a little pointier! Cute! My eyes being red like rubies is secretly a charm point, isn’t it?”
The vivid red eyes, added to her original light brown hair, suited her quite well.
If she had just a lively and cute impression before, now it felt like a spoonful of mature beauty had strangely been added.
-Grumble!
At that moment, a rather loud noise echoed from Ha-eun’s stomach.
“Hehe… Is it because my blood was drained? I’m suddenly super hungry.”
She rubbed her stomach as if embarrassed.
It was natural to feel extreme hunger right after the Retainer transformation.
Si-yeon was like that, and Apostle was like that too.
I took out raw meat and congealed blood from the refrigerator and placed them on the dining table.
“Soothe your hunger with these.”
I had brought them out, but I was inwardly worried.
Because no matter what, I thought an ordinary woman in her twenties might feel some aversion to eating raw meat and congealed blood.
However,
“Thank you for the meal!”
Without an inch of hesitation, Ha-eun picked up a fork, stabbed the raw meat, and popped it into her mouth.
“Wow, it’s so chewy! This is totally like fresh beef tartare?!”
Following that, she skillfully stabbed the red congealed blood, put it in her mouth, and chewed happily.
“Mmm~! This has a pudding-like texture… but the more I chew, the nuttier it gets! I’m originally a soup-and-rice fanatic, so I really love congealed blood hangover soup too! The Vampire diet is totally my type!”
She flashed me double thumbs-up with her cheeks puffed out.
“What incredible adaptability.”
Since she was eating so well and was satisfied like that, there was nothing bad about it.
Having filled her stomach heartily, Ha-eun picked up her smartphone again and continuously took selfies while turning the camera angle this way and that.
Then.
“Uh…?”
Her movements, which had been excitedly taking pictures, suddenly froze.
“B-but I have a meeting scheduled with another Guild tomorrow. What do I do about my red eyes…?”
'You’re only thinking about that now?!'
I was so dumbfounded that I almost facepalmed.